ipad Air 2 update to iOS 13 problem

I was able to fix this exact issue today.

The problems started when my girlfriend's ipad auto installed ipados 13.1.2 -- once installed, the iPad lost the ability to join any wifi network that required a password. I had to temporarily disable encryption on my wifi router in order to get this ipad to connect. But even after getting it back on the internet, I still couldn't authenticate to iCloud. (Maybe some crypto routines were broken?)

So I resorted to a DFU restore from iTunes. But in retrospect, I don't think this was necessary. I think I was mistakenly thinking that the update failed to install correctly, but in reality, I think 13.1.2 is just very buggy. I think I could have skipped the DFU DETOUR below and gone straight to the BETA PROFILE INSTALL.

DFU DETOUR: DFU Mode on this iPad requires pressing the Power and Home buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds, and then letting go of the Power button while still holding the Home button for another 2 to 5 seconds. Oddly, the first two times I attempted this, the iPad wasn't restored to factory settings, but the third time it was. Thankfully, my mac is still running Mojave, so I didn't have to figure out the new way to do it without iTunes.

BETA PROFILE INSTALL: Anyway, once I had a clean 13.1.2 install, I STILL couldn't connect to wifi with WPA2 enabled, so I thought I'd install the beta. I went to http://beta.apple.com in the iPad's safari browser,, logged in with my icloud acct, and imported the beta profile, went to Settings/General/Profiles, installed this profile, and restarted the iPad.

After the restart, I went to Settings/General/Software Update and could download and install the 13.2 public beta. Once installed, I tested wifi with a password, and it worked! (But, because I had wiped my iPad to factory settings during the DFU DETOUR, I still needed to restore from iCloud next, but if you skipped the DFU DETOUR, then you're probably already done, so jump to IT WORKS.)

RESTORE FROM ICLOUD: So, with a good OS installed, I went to Settings/General/Reset and erased all content and settings, and set up the iPad as new again, this time restoring from a recent iCloud backup.

IT WORKS: And poof, everything was back to normal: wifi worked, iCloud login worked.

So, in summary, the real fix was: disable encryption on wifi router, and install 13.2 beta.

I had significant issues as expressed here with the iOS 13 update with my iPad Air 2. Nothing was working and I couldn't log on to WiFi. I used the suggestion to disable the password requirement on my router and was able to connect to the internet. When I got connected, I checked for software updates and noticed that iPadOS 13.1.2 was available. I was able to download and install the update and all issues have been resolved.

I had this same problem. I had a feeling it was related to "Find My iPhone" blocking the installation somehow. I was able to solve it by logging in to iCloud on a browser, removing the device from every I could find it (https://www.icloud.com/find/ & https://www.icloud.com/settings/).

Then I reset the iPad again (pressing the top and home buttons for a while) and restored the OS as if it was a new device from my Mac. Everything then worked fine and I was finally able to restore from my iCloud backups.

It’s not that WiFi itself doesn’t work, it’s that some iPad Air 2’s with 13.1.2 installed fail to authenticate encrypted WiFi connections, which prevents you from getting on the network.

It occurred to me that since the password was failing while connecting to the WiFi network, I should try to connect to an open WiFi network, i.e. one with no encryption or password at all.

Since I didn’t already have an open WiFi hotspot in my home, I had to use a different device (my laptop) that was already on my network to log into my WiFi router’s admin interface, and switch off the WiFi encryption, changing it from WPA2 Personal to None.

Once the WiFi router restarted, the iPad could successfully connect to the internet. But I didn’t want to leave the router configured like this, obviously, because my neighbors would be able to access my network. So, as soon as I installed 13.2 on the iPad, I switched the encryption back on.

Same issue here with my wife’s iPad Air 2. Tried all the suggestions. Only one that worked was the DFU process. I could connect to an unsecure WiFi but nothing actually connected including authenticating Apple ID pw.

Hooked up her ipad to my MacBook Air and went thru the restore process via iTunes. Takes some time but it worked. Once back to factory defaults it connected to WiFi just fine. Went through the restore from iCloud backup and all is back to normal working order.

If if you can’t get connected to internet I don’t see any other option that works. And with a recent backup, she’s back in action. Was almost ready to buy a new one but saved that $$.

Good luck to others.

The OTA update to iOS 13.1.3 fixed all of my problems/issues, as well. Was just coming in here to say this.

Alright - I had all of the issues mentioned in most of these messages. Nothing worked, no matter how many times I tried recovery mode and update (tried everything). Finally once Catalina came out I downloaded that (last night) and tried the restore again and it worked. It did not work with the version before Catalina or any OS before that (I tried multiple operating systems). iPad is fixed...completely restored, but it restored with 13.1.2 and it works as good as new. I was getting firmware issues and the like - it was a mess and I was one click away from getting a new iPad.

Thank you so much for your pointers!! Thanks to you I was able to connect my air2 on an open network, download and install the 13.2 beta which solved all the issues without me having to do any resets/restore and so I’ve not lost any of my data 😊.

I had the same problem. In order to get my iPad to actually function again I had to wipe using the "Erase All Content and Settings" which is basically setting it back to a new clean iPad. It now has the updated iPadOS 13.1.2 and appears to function. Having to wipe it clean with no backup is extreme but I just use it for travel and ease of use so not a huge issue other than having to re-install everything and you lose all data, photos, applications that you installed as well as all history. .

Pretty frustrating that Apple pushes the update to the device knowing that it will not function on the older models, guess that is one way to encourage new revenue. My issue is I spend that kind of money, have no need for new hardware, and will eventually be forced to do so. Might be looking at other manufactures after being a dedicated Apple customer for quite some time.

Beta 13.2 update solved ALL issues on my iPad Air 2.. Thanks for sharing~!

I ended up going to Recovery mode and performing an Update. This also failed, but then I tried a full restore and this came up fine. Then I restored from my backup and got everything running perfectly. As an added note, my iPhone XS update from 13.1.1 to 13.1.2 also failed and took my phone right to Recovery mode. Doing an Update there seemed to fix it. There is definitely something flakey about this update.

Hello,

There have been several issues reported with iPadOS 13 and iPad Air 2. I suggest that you reach out to Apple for assistance.

Contact AppleCare

@SamMcGee Did you try removing encryption from your Wifi hotspot? The iPad may be able to then connect to the Apple servers.

I have precisely the same problem. The update to iPad OS 13.1.1 went without apparent issue. However, after the update, the device can no longer connect to wifi. I've tried multiple access points and am correctly entering the password. I'm using a password manager and there is no error on data entry. Also, the password manager doesn't seem to recognize TouchID. The iPad is generally very sluggish. I don't seem to be able to Sign Out of my Apple ID; the button is gray and unresponsive. I did reset network settings with no effect. I was about to restore the device when I came across this post. Any suggestions on how to proceed? If noone else has a suggestion, I'll go the full restore route.